Campaign spending

This chart shows how many candidates ran for state house in Idaho in past years and the cumulative amount of campaign spending in state house races, including spending in both primary and general election contests. All figures come from Follow The Money.[1]

Year

Number of candidates

Total contributions

2010

142

$2,164,092

2008

148

$2,602,887

2006

145

$2,046,895

2004

160

$2,191,196

2002

207

$1,647,917

In 2010, the total amount of contributions raised in house campaigns was $2,164,092. The top 10 donors were:[2]

Qualifications

Article III, Section 6 of the Idaho Constitution states: No person shall be a senator or representative who, at the time of his election, is not a citizen of the United States, and an elector of this state, nor anyone who has not been for one year next preceding his election an elector of the county or district whence he may be chosen.

Impact of redistricting

Three of Idaho's 44 counties - Kootenai, Canyon, and Ada - combined to account for almost 2/3s of the state's population growth from 2000-2010. This growth mainly took place in the suburbs, which, according to Boise State University political scientist Gary Moncrief, may not change state politics much since these areas tend to be conservative.[3] However, farmers feared that shifts away from rural areas would decrease their representation.[4] Massive growth led to vastly uneven districts and thus they had to be significantly redrawn on the state level.

The Idaho Commission on Reapportionment - made up of 3 Republican appointees and 3 Democratic appointees - is responsible for redistricting. They failed to meet their deadline of September 6, 2011, which resulted in a new commission being formed. The second commission adopted a map on October 14, but saw it thrown out by the court as unconstitutional for splitting too many counties. A reconvened commission passed a new map with fewer splits on January 27, 2012.